The Government could next year increase the value at which businesses must inform regulators of mergers and acquisitions, it has emerged.
The news comes as the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) publishes details of a ruling that required telecoms tower business Phoenix Tower to sell 300 sites as a condition of allowing it to buy rival Cellnex.
It is understood that the commission, which regulates mergers and takeovers, has proposed to Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke that the Government increase the threshold at which such deals must be notified to it.
Since 2019, deals involving businesses with combined turnovers of €60 million, and where each of two or more has a turnover of €10 million, must be notified to the CCPC, which then investigates them.
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Depending on their likely impact on competition, the regulator can approve or block deals, or allow them subject to conditions.
Mr Burke can increase the threshold by ministerial order. Should he act on the commission’s advice, he could increase the current threshold at some point in 2026.
Inflation has boosted many businesses’ turnover, meaning that the commission is increasingly reviewing deals that pose no threat to normal commercial competition.
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The commission’s Phoenix Tower ruling paved the way for UK infrastructure specialist Ancala to enter the Irish market when it bought the 300 towers from US-based Phoenix through a new business called Torloc last month.
Mobile operators, broadcasters and others need telecoms towers for equipment used to transmit wireless signals.
Companies such as Phoenix and Torloc own the sites and the towers, making them critical to wireless networks.
The commission feared that the €971 million Phoenix-Cellnex deal would cut the number of businesses capable of providing this service on a national scale from three to two, reducing choice for customers and driving up their costs.
Commission member Úna Butler described the commitment secured by the regulator from Phoenix as “significant and designed to protect competition”, which would ultimately benefit anyone who uses a mobile phone.
“Following the investigation, and having considered the commitments given by Phoenix, the CCPC determined that the proposed acquisition would not substantially lessen competition and, as a result, could be put into effect,” Ms Butler explained.
Phoenix and Ancala have since pledged to expand their Irish businesses.
Recently, Phoenix Tower chief executive Dagan Kasavana calculated that it could spend €75 million in the Republic over five years as demand for wireless infrastructure continues growing.
Ancala said that Torloc aimed to become a leading independent tower business, growing “organically and through complementary acquisitions”.
